


Can't Bear the Thought of Being Lost

by faintingviolet



Series: Buddiemas 2020 Prompts [4]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Buddiemas (9-1-1 TV), Eddie is going to propose, Established Relationship, Firehouse 118 Family Feels (9-1-1 TV), Idiots in Love, M/M, Missing Ring, but first he has to track down the ring, lost gifts, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:15:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28102272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faintingviolet/pseuds/faintingviolet
Summary: Eddie had decided sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving that he wanted to propose to Buck at Christmas. The holiday had always meant a little extra to them, a touchstone in the various stages of their relationship, and it felt right to Eddie to incorporate this step into the day. Eddie hadn’t been overly concerned with hiding the ring, it was only for 10 days. But then he tried to do it. There was nowhere safe in the house, it was Buck’s home as much as his and Christopher’s and it just wasn’t that big. He tried his locker at the firehouse and immediately thought better of it – Buck’s locker was just too close. Finally, he snuck off to Bobby’s office while he was there to beg the other man to hold onto the ring for him.Or, the Firefam accidentally plays a game of keep away with the engagement ring.(December 13 - Lost Gifts)
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Buddiemas 2020 Prompts [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2057301
Comments: 7
Kudos: 129
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales, Buddiemas 2020





	Can't Bear the Thought of Being Lost

Eddie had decided sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving that he wanted to propose to Buck at Christmas. The holiday had always meant a little extra to them, a touchstone in the various stages of their relationship, and it felt right to Eddie to incorporate this step into the day. He had talked to Christopher, to make sure he was okay with both the asking and the when, relieved that Chris’s reaction was one of pure excitement. While Eddie missed the younger days and was still getting used to having a tween, he was relieved that Christopher had more impulse control now and could be trusted to not let the secret slip.

Next Eddie had spoken to Maddie and both his Abuela and Bobby. Finally, it was time to actually get the ring and for that he needed Maddie and Athena. He had thought about going alone and showing them after, but he had reconsidered almost immediately – as much as his comfort zone was to handle things like this on his own, he wanted to be able to share his joy with the important people in his and Buck’s life. So, he did.

Eddie hadn’t been overly concerned with hiding the ring, it was only for 10 days. But then he tried to do it. There was nowhere safe in the house, it was Buck’s home as much as his and Christopher’s and it just wasn’t that big. He tried his locker at the firehouse and immediately thought better of it – Buck’s locker was just too close. Finally, he snuck off to Bobby’s office while he was there to beg the other man to hold onto the ring for him.

“Bobby, I need an enormous favor.”

“Sure, Eddie. What is it? I’ll warn you though, I can’t make any changes to the schedule it’s absolutely locked in.”

“No, that’s not it. We’ve got the holiday scheduled around shifts; everything is fine there. Its um, actually about the other thing we talked about. Two weeks ago?”

Eddie quickly looks over his shoulder to make sure he had in fact closed the door all the way, even though he had checked it before fully walking into the office, and it is the nervous behavior that immediately jogs Bobby’s memory of _which_ conversation Eddie is talking about.

“Oh, yes. What can I help with? Athena said you got the ring.”

“Its just that. I need someplace to hide the ring. Buck has no idea, but there isn’t any place in the house I feel safe leaving it and I don’t want to carry it around either. He’ll bump into me or get something from my bag…”

“When are you asking him?”

“Christmas.”

“Okay, I can hold onto it for you until then. Do you have it with you now? I can lock it in the desk.”

“Yep, here.” Eddie slides the small black box across the surface of Bobby’s desk and watches as the other man quickly grabs it and tosses it into his top drawer and turns the key in it.

“Alright, you’re all set. Nothing to worry about, Eddie.”

If only that had proven true.

Bobby had it for a few days, but after getting a pointed question from one of the acting captains on another shift he decided it was best to bring it home with him, it was easier to limit access if it was there. He didn’t think anything of it, giving it to Athena to take home with her when she visited the station that day. It had been such an easy solution that he entirely forgot to tell Eddie about the change of location.

Athena brought it back to their house putting it in the safe where she kept her gun. Nowhere safer for it to be. And it was safe there, right up until she decided that they should probably get it back to Eddie before the party at the house, it would be a little awkward to get it from the safe when the party was in full swing and she didn’t feel comfortable just having it out. Buck was too good at helping during parties, it was entirely possible he would come across it.

With that in mind, the day before the party she dropped it off with Maddie at the Call Center. Nervous, and excited, and not really sure how it got to her in the first place Maddie gave it to Chim that night to take to Eddie on shift. She knew she wouldn’t be able to easily orchestrate getting to Eddie without causing Buck’s interest to spike. The party was the next day, and then Christmas Eve the next day, Maddie felt that it was certainly safe to get it back to Eddie now.

Chim wanted absolutely nothing to do with having the ring. Holding onto something so important makes him break out in a nervous sweat. He passed it off, then, to Hen as soon as he possibly could, realizing belatedly that he had managed to not tell his best friend about the impending proposal (he was pretty sure Maddie wasn’t supposed to have told him either and had worked double time to not let anything slip. He didn’t want to make Eddie self-conscious, despite his reputation as being a ball buster, and the other man had been watching him like a hawk besides).

Hen is smart enough to know that Eddie will absolutely not want to get the ring from her. If he realizes it has been out in the world the past few days, and that now she and Chim are in on the secret, she’s convinced that he won’t be able to shake his nerves. She stashed it in her bag in her locker and started working on figuring out how to get it back to Athena, who as far as she was concerned should never have passed if off in the first place. When she and Eddie cross at changing of the shift she doesn’t utter a word about it to him, just carries it quietly out with her since Buck is within earshot.

Before Hen lets Athena know they need a new plan though, Eddie is asking Bobby for it and goes white when Bobby says he doesn’t have it.

“Don’t worry, it’s at the house, Athena put it in the safe. Its fine.”

So, Eddie texts Athena. He knows she’s on shift and he doesn’t want to scare her by calling (she’ll assume something happened to Bobby since Eddie never calls) to figure out the hand off.

**_Hey Athena, Bobby just let me know you have the box in the safe at the house. How do you want to handle getting it back to me?_ **

_I don’t have the ring, Maddie has it. She was supposed to get it to you today._

“Shit. Okay.” He mutters before catching himself and walking further away from the bay doors. Eddie can handle this bump in the road, in the larger scheme of things it is not a problem. He decides to call Maddie, but before he’s able to they are on their way out for a call. It is far too late to call Maddie by the time he’s able to string two minutes together without Buck near. Eddie decides it can wait until the morning, it’ll have to. He doesn’t have to worry, he knows where the ring is, it isn’t lost. It is just like Bobby said, there’s nothing to worry about.

That is, until he actually gets Maddie on the phone.

“Hi Eddie.”

“Hey Maddie, Athena said you have the box for me? Can you bring it with you for later?”

“I don’t have it Eddie, didn’t Howie find you last night?”

“No. No he did not. Why would _he_ have it, Maddie?”

“Oh, umm… I wanted you to have it before today and I didn’t think about the fact that you hadn’t actually told him.”

Eddie takes a deep breath and tracks down Chim, who he now realizes has been studiously staying away from him all shift.

“Chim. Seriously. Maddie fessed up. Hand it over.”

“I don’t have it.”

“WHAT? Where is it?”

“Um, Hen was supposed to give it to you.”

“What was Hen supposed to give you?” Buck asks innocently as he joins the pair in the loft. The only thing Eddie can be thankful for at this point is that his inability to track down the ring he is planning to give this man when he asks him to marry him in less than 24 hours hasn’t been noticed by Buck.

“The name of the place that makes those muffins you liked so much last time we were over. I thought about getting them for Christmas breakfast, she must have forgotten.” It was far from a good lie, and now he would actually have to get the name of the place, but he was relieved he had managed to come up with a plausible lie on the spot.

“Oh, I have the name of the bakery, I go there all the time, well, I used to when I lived on that side of town. I’ll get them, its not a problem.” Buck sits down next to Eddie, bumping their knees together. Eddie just smiles, he doesn’t want to alert Buck to anything being weird, so he’ll do his best to be normal. Even if it means not staring daggers at Chim for the next couple hours.

In the meantime, Hen met Athena for breakfast and handed the ring back over, feeling certain that catastrophe had been averted. Until her phone buzzed in her pocket when she got home, and it was an all-caps message from Eddie.

 ** _I KNOW YOU HAVE IT, JUST BRING IT LATER_**.

She decides her best plan of action is to just say okay and pray the rage storm that must be rolling through Eddie dissipates quickly. Because if he knows she had it, that means he must know Chim had it too. She texts Athena a heads-up.

Eddie is besides himself by the time they get to the Grant-Nash house. He just wants to have the box on his person, willing to risk Buck finding it before he’s ready to ask. Having lost the ring while trying to keep it safe is just the kind of thing that would of course happen to him with his 118 family.

Athena meets them when they come in, immediately sending Christopher off to go find Harry and ordering Buck to go help Bobby. She then holds Eddie by the arm so he can’t walk away to find Hen, and he tries to pull away until he actually turns to look at her, and then he stops dead.

Some moms just have that ability to halt you in your tracks, regardless of whether they were your parent.

“I have it, Eddie. Its in the safe. When you’re ready you’ll let me know and I’ll sneak off to get it and pass it off to you. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you I had it or that I was trying to get it back to you.”

“It’s okay Athena.”

“It is not, but I also didn’t want to text you since we’ve gotten this far without Buck guessing what’s going on. I am sorry Eddie. Take a deep breath.”

He does, feeling his heart rate slow down. The ring isn’t lost, its here in the house, under lock and key. It is still a surprise. He can ask whenever he’s ready, tonight or tomorrow. Athena will make sure the pass off happens without a hitch. He trusts her.

“Its really okay, I promise,” he gives Athena a small smile, he doesn’t realize it’s the same one he wore when he asked her to come with him to get the ring in the first place, “I’ll let you know.”

“I know you will, honey, it’ll all go great, I promise.”

Since he trusts her, he lets himself believe it.


End file.
